If necessary, you can review the the IPlan Assignment sheet here. Complete the process shown in the diagram below by following the steps and answering the questions for each step.
a. Take a few minutes to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.
As a teacher (and as a human) I have my strengths and I have those areas that I need to work on. I have a long history of working with people and from that I have gained patience and understanding. Perhaps my biggest strength is my close memory of what it felt like when I was a student. I am not the type of person that like time consuming work, nor do I like basic level repetitious learning. I often see things differently and like to change up the format. I feel as though many student sfeel the same, and also research shows that since all kids learn differently, teaching in many modalities helps to accelerate student learning. Additionally, I am at least as good as the next person with technology, if not better. I feel as though I am able to explain myself clearly and think well on my feet as well.
Some areas that I personally need further development in would be differentiating instruction, I always get caught up trying to figure out how t make it appear the same to the students. Sometimes I just assume that the work will make sense t the students and fail to remind them of little details to help differentiate my instruction. Additionally I could learn to be more organized myself, I always have what I need for my lesson, but I feel as though I could learn ways to be able to access everything more efficiently.
b. Describe some of your students' strengths and needs that you have noticed so far.
All students are different; each has their own strengths and weaknesses. I have noticed however that many students care very much about their performance, a definite strength. This presents the challenge of making sure that they take pride in doing well as opposed to just getting a good grade. I have also noticed that many students are very willing to ask questions and help each other – another great sign. Avery large majority of the students want to be here, they enjoy school and they really enjoy being asked to think and process information. They excel when given the chance to be creative while solving a problem. Many of them are also technologically very literate.
Of course I have noticed some weaker areas as well, and many of these (as could be expected of this age group) are maturity and behavioral issues. Once of topic it is hard for a few of the students to get back on task. Some also struggle with taking it seriously when it comes time to formal assighnments, whether it be completing homework or studying for a test, many students have come to expect another chance – something that will be a major disservice to them in the real world.
Most kids are about right with regards to reading level and comprehension; however a significant number do struggle with reading in the content area. May of the provided texts are at a high reading level, further compounding the problem for some of these students.
So in summary two major problems exist, one being behavioral and the other reading difficulties.
a. Review your school improvement document(s). (If you forgot them, download a SALT visit.)
b. Synthesize your review by completing the following table as best your can:
What is the need?
How will improvement help your students?
How will improvement help your school?
RIBT Standard/Element Addressed?
1.
Communicate and implement a common language and expectations across all disciplines for teaching reading and writing.
Although students are being asked to write, many are not trully taught how to read for deeper understading. Many are simply scratching the surface. Students need to be taught guided reading strategies. The same goes for writting, many students are being asked to write but some teachers are not providing useful feeback to advance the young writter.
The schools mission is to become the best middle school in the state. Additionally this will raise their NECAP scores, gaining them support from the public and respect from other schools and the school comitte. Students will be better prepared for the transition to the highschool. School will be more consistant and students will know what to expect from team to team and grade to grade.
RIBTS 2 Teachers create learning experiences that reflect an understanding of central concepts, structures, and tools of inquiry of the disciplines they teach.
2.
Focus more on reading comprehension strategies to deepen students’ understanding of text
Students will be better able to draw inferences and conclusion s from written texts. Many students are being asked t read in their content areas, but few are being challenged to read critically.
Very similar to above. School will come closer to completing its mission while improving NECAP scores and giving students clearer expectations from team to team and grade to grade (school wide expectations)
RIBTS 4 Teachers create instructional opportunities that reflect a respect for the diversity of learners and an understanding of how students differ in their approaches to learning.
3.
Believe in and work toward the realization of meeting the needs of diverse learners in heterogeneously grouped classes.
Research shows time and time again that students, especially at this age learn best in a proper heterogenous grouping. This enables them to grow not only more as students but also as members of their community. Students will become even more comfortable in the learning enviornment, enabling them to take more risks and ultimatly learn more.
The school will function much better with less division among its teams and teachers. Once the entire school can really accept and works towards the schools goals the school will benifit from a tighter sense of security and better profesional devolopment and collaboration between staff members within the school.
RIBTS 6 Teachers create a learning environment that encourages appropriate standards of behavior, positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation
4.
Focus more on lessons and activities requiring higher level problem solving skills.
Life requires critical thinking, and so does high school. Students needs to become comfortbale taking risks and mutliple steps in solving more complex problems. This type of wirk will improve their criticial thinking and collaboration skills among others, all while rasing each students self esteem and perceived self worth.
This will improve the schools NECAP scores as well as better prepares students for the high school. It will also foster clearer expectations schoolwide.
RIBTS 5. Teachers create instructional opportunities to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Formulate a professional development goal based the needs that you have identified. This goal should be:
measurable/observable
should lead to improvement of teaching, student achievement, and/or improvement of learning environment.
should describe new knowledge or skills that you will acquire and how that knowledge/skill will affect the school/district setting.
linked to applicable Rhode Island Beginning Teacher Standards and elements, e.g. RIBTS 2.4.
In the space below, describe your professional development goal. In a second paragraph, use the information above to provide a rationale for your goal by explaining the personal need that it will address as well as how addressing this goal benefits your students and your school.
I. Professional Development Goal
In my first year of teaching I hope to effectively implement at least one assignment or focus one lesson per week focusing on higher level problem solving. I want to stay away from lower level tasks while still keeping the entire class interested and motivated
I feel this is valid as it is clearly related to an area the school could grow in. Furthermore it is easy to simply ask students to think more, but teaching them and guiding them in that process is more of a challenge ad I would like to focus skill development in those areas.
Now that you have a PD goal, think about what type of learning opportunities you will participate in to address your needs. Use these links to investigate learning options:
Based on what you have found out, write a 1-2 paragraph narrative outlining at least two ways (PD categories) you will engage in engage in by the end of your first year of teaching. For each activity, explain how you think it will address the need that you have identified.
II. Professional Development Plan
I worked with the Gems Net kit during my time at westerly middle school. I feel that I was able to use it well, but could defiantly improve upon my use of the materials and further expand upon the content. I would like to attend a workshop or training session from Gems Net, or any similar program. These kits are desighned for hands on project based learning, which contributes well to higher level thinking and problem solving skills While teaching I made in class connections to the real world, but I would like to take that further and take the students into the real world for class. I would like to attend a DEM or SAVE the bay type ecology program with my students. Not only would this improve upon their learning but it would provide me with invaluable tools and ideas for future years. This will meet my goal as these programs are based upon solving a complex problem, which is exaclty what I want my students to be able to do.
Print your PD plan to PDF
Post your PD Plan to True Outcomes
Return to True Outcomes to evaluate a peer's plan the following week.
EDC 484 IPlan Synthesis
If necessary, you can review the the IPlan Assignment sheet here. Complete the process shown in the diagram below by following the steps and answering the questions for each step.
You can review the Rhode Island Beginning Teacher Standards (RIBTs) here.
a. Take a few minutes to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.
As a teacher (and as a human) I have my strengths and I have those areas that I need to work on. I have a long history of working with people and from that I have gained patience and understanding. Perhaps my biggest strength is my close memory of what it felt like when I was a student. I am not the type of person that like time consuming work, nor do I like basic level repetitious learning. I often see things differently and like to change up the format. I feel as though many student sfeel the same, and also research shows that since all kids learn differently, teaching in many modalities helps to accelerate student learning. Additionally, I am at least as good as the next person with technology, if not better. I feel as though I am able to explain myself clearly and think well on my feet as well.
Some areas that I personally need further development in would be differentiating instruction, I always get caught up trying to figure out how t make it appear the same to the students. Sometimes I just assume that the work will make sense t the students and fail to remind them of little details to help differentiate my instruction. Additionally I could learn to be more organized myself, I always have what I need for my lesson, but I feel as though I could learn ways to be able to access everything more efficiently.
b. Describe some of your students' strengths and needs that you have noticed so far.
All students are different; each has their own strengths and weaknesses. I have noticed however that many students care very much about their performance, a definite strength. This presents the challenge of making sure that they take pride in doing well as opposed to just getting a good grade. I have also noticed that many students are very willing to ask questions and help each other – another great sign.
Avery large majority of the students want to be here, they enjoy school and they really enjoy being asked to think and process information. They excel when given the chance to be creative while solving a problem. Many of them are also technologically very literate.
Of course I have noticed some weaker areas as well, and many of these (as could be expected of this age group) are maturity and behavioral issues. Once of topic it is hard for a few of the students to get back on task. Some also struggle with taking it seriously when it comes time to formal assighnments, whether it be completing homework or studying for a test, many students have come to expect another chance – something that will be a major disservice to them in the real world.
Most kids are about right with regards to reading level and comprehension; however a significant number do struggle with reading in the content area. May of the provided texts are at a high reading level, further compounding the problem for some of these students.
So in summary two major problems exist, one being behavioral and the other reading difficulties.
a. Review your school improvement document(s). (If you forgot them, download a SALT visit.)
b. Synthesize your review by completing the following table as best your can:
Formulate a professional development goal based the needs that you have identified. This goal should be:
In the space below, describe your professional development goal. In a second paragraph, use the information above to provide a rationale for your goal by explaining the personal need that it will address as well as how addressing this goal benefits your students and your school.
I. Professional Development Goal
In my first year of teaching I hope to effectively implement at least one assignment or focus one lesson per week focusing on higher level problem solving. I want to stay away from lower level tasks while still keeping the entire class interested and motivatedI feel this is valid as it is clearly related to an area the school could grow in. Furthermore it is easy to simply ask students to think more, but teaching them and guiding them in that process is more of a challenge ad I would like to focus skill development in those areas.
Now that you have a PD goal, think about what type of learning opportunities you will participate in to address your needs. Use these links to investigate learning options:
Based on what you have found out, write a 1-2 paragraph narrative outlining at least two ways (PD categories) you will engage in engage in by the end of your first year of teaching. For each activity, explain how you think it will address the need that you have identified.
II. Professional Development Plan
I worked with the Gems Net kit during my time at westerly middle school. I feel that I was able to use it well, but could defiantly improve upon my use of the materials and further expand upon the content. I would like to attend a workshop or training session from Gems Net, or any similar program. These kits are desighned for hands on project based learning, which contributes well to higher level thinking and problem solving skillsWhile teaching I made in class connections to the real world, but I would like to take that further and take the students into the real world for class. I would like to attend a DEM or SAVE the bay type ecology program with my students. Not only would this improve upon their learning but it would provide me with invaluable tools and ideas for future years. This will meet my goal as these programs are based upon solving a complex problem, which is exaclty what I want my students to be able to do.